Unarmored Talk

Clearer Thinking. Better Sleep. A Smarter Path for Veterans and Professionals

• Mario P. Fields - Sergeant Major (Ret.) • Episode 167

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What if clearer thinking, steadier balance, and deeper sleep start in your inner ear?

In this episode, I sit down with Sheila Thelen, coach and founder, to unpack how vestibular training—originally refined with elite figure skaters—now helps veterans improve sleep, athletes recover from concussions, kids with ADHD sharpen focus, and older adults reduce fall risk.

Sheila explains the powerful overlap between rehabilitation and performance, breaking down four areas where people see results quickly: balance, cognitive processing, spatial awareness, and sleep. We explore why “spin sports” train the brain differently than linear movement, how short, precise vestibular drills can calm the nervous system, and why sleep loss can quietly push people toward crisis.

Along the way, Sheila shares real-world stories of recovery, resilience, and purpose—and why she chose impact overstaying in her “lane.” The science is deep, the tools are non-invasive, and the path forward is practical.

If you’ve dealt with brain fog, balance issues, spatial confusion, or restless nights, this conversation offers a grounded, hopeful way forward.

Stay unarmored, stay authentic, and stay mentally fit. And as always — I’m praying for you all. God bless.

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Mario P. Fields:

Welcome back to Unarmed Talk Podcast. Thank you so much for listening and watching each episode. And continue, please, to share with your friends and family members and colleagues. And don't forget to leave a rating or review if you feel this is an awesome show. And you can connect to all of my social media on the parade deck. Just look in the show notes, or you can put in the search engine, Mario P. Fields Parade deck, and get all access to my social media. Well, let's get ready to interview another guest who is willing to remove their armor to help other people. Welcome to the Unarmored Talk Podcast, everyone. And if you are watching on YouTube, again, welcome. If you have been with me going on for almost five years now, I always appreciate your support, your continued support. I don't know if you guys know this, but about 75 to 80% of podcasts fail, like they stop producing after uh three to six episodes. And you guys have been with me for five years. If it weren't for the amazing guests like we have today with Sheila Thielen and all the other previous 100 plus guests, why would I even have this platform? So God has blessed us. I'm thankful. And again, this is for charity. So every time you guys watch, subscribe to the YouTube channel, you share this content. It all goes to Still Serving Incorporated. That's www.stillserving Inc. That's the website if you want to learn more about uh my nonprofit that just went over seven years in supporting students in low-income communities, and that's Pitt County. Thanks, Sheila. Well, let's get to our guest ready to have some authentic discussions on the Unarmored Talk Podcast. You guys know the deal. Her name is Sheila Thielen. Now, she is a founder and president of an amazing company called Vestibular. Uh, let me make sure I get this right. Uh let me hold on. Training Services. I had to think about it. VTS. And I did some research, by the way, that is, and it's non-invasive. So I don't want to tell you how this is connected, but it's very, very interesting. But she's also a globally renowned global, not world, global figure skating coach and more. Sheila, welcome to the show.

Sheila Thelen:

Oh my god, thanks for having me. I'm always honored to do these projects and and such great, great projects. Thank you so much.

Mario P. Fields:

No, you you're welcome. Well, let's just go, let's get right to it. Can you please tell the listeners and viewers a little bit about Sheila?

Sheila Thelen:

So I'm a figure skating coach, you know, like it's just it's just the it sounds quiet, but like I kind of call it trench warfare. Like I worked with everything. I worked from three and four and five-year-olds, the kid who bit me, the kid who threw up on me, you know, like, yeah, oh my god, like trench warfare. But then all the way through Olympians, like you see them on TV, they've used my products, they've used my training tools. Uh, because really we're an old company, we're about a 30-year-old company in just figure skating. And but the group is amazing. And I don't know if you've ever met any mini figure skaters, but they're they're they're special, they're phenomenal, they're organized, they're good decision makers, they're they're all these extra things in in the world of sports that were we started to notice. So, really, what am I is I'm I'm really aware and I really ask a lot of questions. So, like my background, like I ask hundreds of questions a day. Why does this work and why doesn't this work? And why does this kid excel and this kid not excel? And why is this kid so smart? And why is that one like struggling, you know, and like all of these little pieces, I just started asking thousands and thousands of questions, and which led to more projects and more companies and more impact into the world and that we're really excited to be a part of.

Mario P. Fields:

And you you mentioned impact, we're gonna get to that, but I'm gonna tell you, I can't even skate. So I I I you know, I gotta keep it real, everybody. You put Mario Pierre Fields, we're served major, retired for you military folks in front of that. But you put me on some skates and we gotta call 911 and and figure skating, good gosh. So I don't have a special button, you know what I mean? And from from the youth to to to people at the Olympic stage, but let's talk about what you said the impact. You don't have to do what you're doing. Um what what's behind the armor of the passion? Why? Why is Sheila helping folks through her company and more?

Sheila Thelen:

So, okay, it's funny you say that. So um, so I've hold I had this the skating spinning company, like, oh, there's the harness and there's the spinner, and you know, like so I I had this company for 30 years, and um 10 years ago, I started noticing different things in our sport compared to other sports, you know, and so I started really talking to more coaches and more and more coaches and and more and more coaches and who would talk to me. Um, and I started noticing there was a difference in sports that spin and in straight line sports. Like I just started noticing more and more things, and so I um she she looks real quick, I would have never even looked at it like that.

Mario P. Fields:

Sports that spin and straight line sports. That's deep because now I'm thinking figure skating figure skater, they spin a lot. I would spin more.

Sheila Thelen:

You know, it's funny you should say that because the military even talked to me about it. So so I'm doing some small projects with the military. I'm I'm just getting my feet wet with the military, but they were interested in the data of because really, especially women, um, because they have so little data on women, the the military does, but the difference, and really the girls that go into the military are are bigger girls, they're they're straight line sports kids, they're they're volleyball, basketball, track, you know, they're straight line sports. Whereas the the the littler ninja group of like figure skaters and gymnastics, they don't they don't go into the military, they're just small, they're small humans, and so I have this crazy chunk of millions of pieces of data on ninjas, you know, and that that's a whole new group, you know, to the military.

Mario P. Fields:

Well, I like that because you know I'm five foot two, so you know, I would I'm kind of an eyeball. So I I should have gone into the I should have gone into the spinning uh sports. But so so now you you got this data, and and now what do you what what have you started to do with this when it comes to as it pertains to those in the spinning and then those in straight line?

Sheila Thelen:

So the exciting thing is I'm basically spinning everyone, anyone with a brain. And I'm talking about everyone, like like whether it's kids with autism, um kids with concussions, ADHD, kids that don't stay dry at night, you know, like like that whole group of kids. Oh, it's it's struggle bus. Um, on top of that, like aging and Parkinson's and yeah, fall prevention and concussions and Olympic athletes and performance-based. And so I'm working with everyone with a brain, especially in the concept that a lot of people have brought forward, the concept that rehabilitation and performance are the same thing. That's the same thing. That's not two different areas, and why we've split them up makes no sense. Performance and rehabilitation are the same thing.

Mario P. Fields:

And so, have you um, you know, what's some of the results have you seen, you know, in in um for this? Yeah, I have a I have a diverse audience, so it doesn't even matter what age group. So, you know, give can you give me some examples?

Sheila Thelen:

So I everyone, it's been that's the that's the exciting part that I'm obsessed about, and I won't stop talking about to the point my family is so sick of me. Like my family is so sick of me because this is all I want to do, it's all I want to talk about. We'll be at the airport and someone's like, So, what do you do for a living? I'm like, Oh, come on in, here's some videos, you know. Like, like I'm that person that's a lunatic in airports and post offices and the dry cleaners, you know, like what am I talking about?

Mario P. Fields:

And you know, that's the hallmark of passion that you know when I facilitate some of my uh employment workshops, I talk about that. You know, you cannot you cannot send anyone to the university of passion. You can have all the skills on on earth and uh and the degrees and certifications, but are you passionate? And I applaud you, Sheila. Um, you know, that that you're passionate. What what what could what could bring someone to you? In other words, like what's uh something that I could experience. I I'm going, I I want to go see Sheila for for this. What what have you seen?

Sheila Thelen:

So the biggest thing, and and I do a whole thing, I love me some SEALs. Okay, I joke that those guys network like teenage girls, okay. Like they network, okay. The whole military really does network well, which which is kind of an honor to see because I started out with one and now I've got seven, and now I've got 14. Now I got 23. Like I have so many um networked, you know, active in vets, but also same thing in the world of ADHD. I got moms that networked the hell out of it. I worked with one kid, now I got 40. You know, like it oh my god, so there's a lot of reasons to come to me. But the four biggest things that that we talk about, because we talk about vestibular, like that inner ear, right? So that inner ear is your vestibular system, and so but it manages like 30 major functions. But the four we talk about the most.

Mario P. Fields:

Wait a minute, hold on, Sheila. You said how many functions does it manage?

Sheila Thelen:

That's like 40. It's like crazy amount of functions. Um, especially, and it's even things like abstract thinking, like comes from your vestibular system, is where it all starts. So, which was fascinating to me. And 52,000 academic papers already published on vestibular. But the four we talk about, so the four you end up calling me about, because someone, either you or your family, or your brother, or your cousin, or your own kid, it's balance, cognitive, spatial, and sleep. So, somewhere in there, that's gonna hit every single human. Okay, and it kind of hits everyone differently, but at some point you got really bad balance issues, something's going on, and with that balance issue, you got crazy anxiety because your brain knows it's not okay. Okay, or you got cognitive, you're just not processing. Like it's almost like I call it like a waking dream or permanently drunk, okay. Like, like you're like, ah, I can't process what's going on. You know, like I'm just super slow, like what's going on? I can't make decisions, you know. Okay. Then of course, the other group is spatial. And we always talk about like fighter jet pilots, you know, spatial, like we've all seen Top Gun, you know, uh okay, you know, which weighs up, okay. But in the same sense, that's also my 80-year-old mom driving, okay. Like about spatial, okay, walking through a door, not slamming into it, okay, like little things like that. Um, and then of course, sleep. And and to be honest, the sleep factor is maybe the scariest of all of them. When you're not sleeping, that's that's a really scary group of humans. And I'm gonna take a second and talk about like that's that's your suicide group. And I actually had the the military talk to me about this. They they talked about how the guys would go like two days with no sleep, okay. No sleep, and then they've hit such a manic state. The military claims it's unstoppable, the suicide or the murder, or killing the dog and themselves and you know, the family. Yeah, like like the the story just keeps getting more and more horrific. Okay, but in the same sense, it it is stoppable if you got them to sleep. Okay, you gotta sleep. Humans have to sleep. Okay, and there's all these new papers coming out on sleep and dementia and onset, early onset Alzheimer's, and you know, connecting things to sleep. Duh. Do you really need an academic paper on that? Yeah, when you're not sleeping right, you can't perform well. Duh.

Mario P. Fields:

Right. Yeah, I and again, I love every show I learned something, and I love them because again, I would have never thought about the vestibular and how critical it is to the four components you laid out, you know, balance, cognitive ability, you know, sleep, how to process information, um, and and and more. I would have never thought, you know, let me just double check this. And so if you had to look at everyone, you know, you know, looking back, you know, for for the years um of you doing this, um what what would you say was your one of your most challenging um uh moments looking back?

Sheila Thelen:

I have a bunch, okay. You know, it I have to tell you, I'm a sucker for a kid story. Okay, you see what I'm saying? Like, like, like I I really come from half a million kids of athletes and coaches and kids and ice arenas and families, and like I I'm a really sucker for kid stories. Okay, like like that really means something to me. Um, I recently had one of my athletes that that had already kind of left skating. She's already 20 years old, you know, she's off to college and and picked up a concussion that wasn't healing. You know, she she just wasn't healing after like five months, she just wasn't getting better. The mom calls me and they're like, hi, can we come back to you? And I'm like, did you never left? You know, for sure. Like, come on back, like like for sure. Like, I always got you forever. And I think coaches really feel that too, you know, like coaches, like I I know I coached you 12 years ago, but right back, I'm here for you, you know. And I feel like there's a lot of coaches that are struggling to watch their athletes, especially in the football industry and and other sports, that they look back on how we treated those athletes back, you know, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, and and where they're at now. And as coaches, there's there's some stress over that because we see our their athletes struggling. So my my athlete came back to me and I have videos posted on it. You know, this kid went from struggling to fantastic, you know, four months later. And you know, once a week, five minutes spinning with me, got her brain going again, got it all connected, and she's she's she's back, you know, and and I just have to take a second to tear up a bit because these are the things that matter, and as coaches and as parents, and as mothers and fathers, and society and caring, like to see someone get their life back, yeah, this matters.

Mario P. Fields:

It's in you know, if my neighbor, my neighbor, her daughter is uh she's in eighth grade, and literally she just made the softball team. And just yesterday, she's she told us we were outside, she said, I got hit in the head, I got a concussion. And for me, before this episode, I'm going, man, I'm yeah, I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully you you recover. Now I'm gonna send this episode to to my neighbor, yes, and say, Hey, here's some things to look out for, here's some other resources. But the beauty of Sheila of having you on, because you know, I'll talk to you all day, like every guest, is your passion. That's the main reason why everyone I wanted to host Sheila, is her passion. You see how passionate she is? You find your passion, everyone. I don't care if it's going outside and taking out the trash can, be the most motivated trash can take her out or in your entire city. But Sheila's passion has just blown me away from the first time I met her. And so, Sheila, before I ask you in this discussion a final question, how can people find you?

Sheila Thelen:

Oh god. Well, I love LinkedIn. Okay, like I that's where I almost connect to everybody. I use do use a lot of LinkedIn because it's my favorite. Um, of course, we're on Instagram, we got a website, you know, spinyourbrain.com with the little linky things, you know, like we're on Facebook, you know, like whatever. Um, don't really care. Um, LinkedIn is my favorite. Um, you know, I'm a big texter, you know. Like I got kids, I know how to text, you know. Yeah, so like um, I feel like there's a there's no way you can miss me in this world, especially on LinkedIn.

Mario P. Fields:

That is so cool. So as as I let you let you go in here in a minute, there's so many people that I've seen that are in their passion, and you can see it. It doesn't matter what they say, it's how they behave. And and I can see it through you. I mean, like my you know, again, my computer is shaking. See that, see it shaking. But if you if you're not on a YouTube channel, go ahead and get on a YouTube channel, watch it. Uh the screen shake. What advice could you give to anyone that watches or listened to this episode about pursuing their passion, regardless of what people say or don't say or whatever?

Sheila Thelen:

Okay, so it's funny you say that. So when I expanded my company, especially five years ago, now remember, I'm like number one in figure skating. Okay, like, oh yeah, figure skating. Ah, yeah, I got that. I really got that. And I had a bunch of buddies be like, you know what? You should stay in your lane. You know, figure skate, just stay in your lane. Okay, don't do this. You're not a doctor, you're not a PT, you're not an OT, you're not, you're not a lot, you're not a PhD, you're not a doctorate candidate. You know, like you're not all these things. And I remember thinking, like, yeah, I get that. I get I'm none of those things, but if I have something that could help the world, why wouldn't I step forward and take that challenge? And I'm gonna tell you too, a lot of people are not cheering for me. Okay, like I got a whole group of people that are like, no, no, just stay in your life. You should have just stayed in figure skating. And I have a whole batch of people they're like, no, no, no, no. You're just a skating coach. Okay, I get that. Yeah, I am, but I help a lot of people with concussions and I help a lot of kids with ADHD, and I help a lot of people not fall, and I help a lot of people get their lives back. And so, you know what? It's okay that I don't have a huge cheering section from not the world isn't cheering for me. Like, I get that, but don't expect that. Don't expect that. And I'm even gonna say my own family, it always cracks me up because someone will some people call me a genius, okay, which is sweet. I love it. What a kind thing for someone to say. And my family always like booze them. They're like, no, no, she's not a genius. But when NASA called me a genius on one of their events, I was like, ha ha ha. Even the husband was like, Oh, really? Maybe she is, you know. So I it's funny to see your family because you see people as like, this is what I was and this is what I am. Okay. But but we can all be something else. And we can all do things to change our world and our communities and our families, and to step forward with leadership that matters and changes the world. And the attitude of let's go change the world is is the attitude I went forward with, without trying to sound like a lunatic for saying that. But that's the goal of our company. Like, we want to change the world, right? Non-invasive, easy way, rebalance people, it's your vestibular system. Like all of these pieces, we can do that. So, like, I challenge people to go forward, go change the world, do something you care about, help someone. Because the best way to help yourself is to help someone else.

Mario P. Fields:

I love it. I love it. And and and everyone, if you didn't catch it again. And just imagine if Sheila didn't listen to everyone else saying, stay in your lane. Stay in your lane. Think about the human impact that she may not have increased around the world. You guys know the deal. Let's not try to change the world individually. What can we do together to make a positive impact while we're on this earth? Sheila, thank you so much for appearing on the show and blessing us with your passion. I truly appreciate you. Everyone, you guys know the deal. And the next few weeks we'll come out with another episode of a guest who's willing to have an authentic conversation with Mario P. Fields on the Unarmoured Talk podcast. But until then, I will continue to pray. May God continue to bless you, your family, friends, and all living beings around you. Sheila, take care. Thank you for listening to this most recent episode. And remember, you can listen and watch all of the previous episodes on my YouTube channel. The best way to connect to me and all of my social media is follow me on the Parade Deck. That is www.paradeck.com, or you can click on the link in the show notes. I'll see you guys soon.

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Mario P. Fields

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